ericrodman101
Really Experienced
- Joined
- Dec 26, 2013
- Posts
- 7,965
When Henry Dalton stepped onto the tarmac, the tropical air slapped him in the face. He was tired after the flight and the line moved sluggishly towards the terminal. His hand luggage suddenly weighed a ton.
View attachment 2166822
Bangkok. Thailand. Asia. If only they felt as exotic under the oppressive sun as they did in the planning. But it was only an airport, he reasoned, and only the weather suggested he was in the tropics and not anywhere in the world. Airports were the least stimulating way to enter a country. They all looked the same.
It was Saturday. The college had advised they wouldn't be able to greet him, so he planned to make his own way to the apartment the college had arranged, rest a bit, then look around the city. Monday would come soon enough when he would introduce himself to his new employers, The American University of Thailand. What a place to be teaching English literature. The world was full of surprises. Who'd have thought he would be teaching here.
But why not? Bangkok was as good as anywhere. Better. A new beginning. A sanctuary. A bolt hole. Did it matter how he described it, to himself and to others? He was here and the trouble was behind him on the other side of the world. Thank Christ!
But it wasn't behind him. Henry had enough self awareness to know as one sordid door closed, another opened. Trouble followed him. Or he managed to find it wherever he went. And was it trouble? Or just his nature? He hadn't been charged. The college hadn't dismissed him. It hadn't even made the papers although social media had been wild for a while. No, like sensible adults they'd negotiated a mutually agreeable outcome. His apartment was rented, his possessions were in storage, his next semester students were looked after, and as for the other players....the young people involved...well, they were all eighteen, and some of them were already in contact with him by email, seeking his advice, his reassurance, his new address.
The rules about faculty student fraternization were ridiculously outdated however you examined them. The American University of Thailand had similar rules, he noted, when he reviewed the contract. Who first said rules were made to be broken? Some over-sexed libertine like him, Henry mused.
He stepped into the terminal building, enjoying the air conditioned blast after the oven of the tarmac. Why the fuck hadn't he moved to the front of the plane and exited via the air bridge? The relative coolness inside just accentuated how warm he felt. Perspiration coursed inside his cotton shirt. He stopped to undo his top button, then a second, opening his shirt. It made him recall the neckties he'd packed for the trip. Did anyone wear a tie in this climate? Not if he looked about. Even the uniformed guards and airport officials were tieless. It was a casualness he might enjoy, he thought. That was what he'd gleaned about Thailand. Sure it was a traditional culture, a monarchy, authoritarian in some respects. But in personal matters, he understood it to be casual. Yes, that was the word. Not liberated so much as casual. Maybe that was simply how the locals lived with the heat.
Personal matters. The phrase brought his attention back to the incident. Well, incidents really. The line at immigration moved slowly. He opened his passport. Unlike most people, Henry thought his mugshot did him justice. Thick dark hair fashionably cut, clear skin, smoky eyes, square jaw, just a hint of a smile but sufficiently slight so as not to upset whoever approved passport photographs. Yes, Henry Dalton, 38, born Houston Texas, Professor of English Literature, divorced, no children, bisexual, is a handsome man, he thought. He handed his passport to a beautiful young Thai woman, long dark hair, thick lips, skin like honey. She examined his face without expression, then stamped the passport. The baggage carousel and Asia lay ahead.
View attachment 2166822
Bangkok. Thailand. Asia. If only they felt as exotic under the oppressive sun as they did in the planning. But it was only an airport, he reasoned, and only the weather suggested he was in the tropics and not anywhere in the world. Airports were the least stimulating way to enter a country. They all looked the same.
It was Saturday. The college had advised they wouldn't be able to greet him, so he planned to make his own way to the apartment the college had arranged, rest a bit, then look around the city. Monday would come soon enough when he would introduce himself to his new employers, The American University of Thailand. What a place to be teaching English literature. The world was full of surprises. Who'd have thought he would be teaching here.
But why not? Bangkok was as good as anywhere. Better. A new beginning. A sanctuary. A bolt hole. Did it matter how he described it, to himself and to others? He was here and the trouble was behind him on the other side of the world. Thank Christ!
But it wasn't behind him. Henry had enough self awareness to know as one sordid door closed, another opened. Trouble followed him. Or he managed to find it wherever he went. And was it trouble? Or just his nature? He hadn't been charged. The college hadn't dismissed him. It hadn't even made the papers although social media had been wild for a while. No, like sensible adults they'd negotiated a mutually agreeable outcome. His apartment was rented, his possessions were in storage, his next semester students were looked after, and as for the other players....the young people involved...well, they were all eighteen, and some of them were already in contact with him by email, seeking his advice, his reassurance, his new address.
The rules about faculty student fraternization were ridiculously outdated however you examined them. The American University of Thailand had similar rules, he noted, when he reviewed the contract. Who first said rules were made to be broken? Some over-sexed libertine like him, Henry mused.
He stepped into the terminal building, enjoying the air conditioned blast after the oven of the tarmac. Why the fuck hadn't he moved to the front of the plane and exited via the air bridge? The relative coolness inside just accentuated how warm he felt. Perspiration coursed inside his cotton shirt. He stopped to undo his top button, then a second, opening his shirt. It made him recall the neckties he'd packed for the trip. Did anyone wear a tie in this climate? Not if he looked about. Even the uniformed guards and airport officials were tieless. It was a casualness he might enjoy, he thought. That was what he'd gleaned about Thailand. Sure it was a traditional culture, a monarchy, authoritarian in some respects. But in personal matters, he understood it to be casual. Yes, that was the word. Not liberated so much as casual. Maybe that was simply how the locals lived with the heat.
Personal matters. The phrase brought his attention back to the incident. Well, incidents really. The line at immigration moved slowly. He opened his passport. Unlike most people, Henry thought his mugshot did him justice. Thick dark hair fashionably cut, clear skin, smoky eyes, square jaw, just a hint of a smile but sufficiently slight so as not to upset whoever approved passport photographs. Yes, Henry Dalton, 38, born Houston Texas, Professor of English Literature, divorced, no children, bisexual, is a handsome man, he thought. He handed his passport to a beautiful young Thai woman, long dark hair, thick lips, skin like honey. She examined his face without expression, then stamped the passport. The baggage carousel and Asia lay ahead.
Last edited: